


A-Climbin’ On

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: (No actual incest - just canon-typical comments about Luci/Charlotte), Aftermath, Angry Dan Espinoza, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Chloe Decker Doesn't Know, Cults, Dan Espinoza Being an Asshole, Gen, Implied/Referenced Incest, Introspection, Mother-Son Relationship, Muggle Explanations for Lucifer, Post-Season/Series 03, Snark, Verbal Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: Chloe and Ella eavesdrop on Lucifer's interview with IA after Pierce's shooting, and are in for a few shocks. (Canon-Divergence - NO REVEAL)
Relationships: Lucifer Morningstar & Mother of Angels | Charlotte Richards, Lucifer Morningstar & Original Charlotte Richards
Comments: 7
Kudos: 130





	A-Climbin’ On

**Author's Note:**

> Written because, quite frankly, I have a lot of feels about Post-Goddess Charlotte and the boys, and it pissed me off that no one remembered the step-mother thing during 3x23/24
> 
> Title from [Langston Hughes' Mother to Son](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47559/mother-to-son)

Chloe straitened up in her desk chair and deliberately forced herself not to scowl at the interrogation room. It wasn’t that she wanted to be in there, or anything; she had had her own interview in there with IA this morning. But _Lucifer_ was the one in there now, and who knows what he was going to say to Jamison. Lucifer’s relationship with the truth was a complicated thing, and Chloe was used to knowing what he said so that she could handle it accordingly. Having to wait and find out later what craziness he’d spouted was fraying her nerves.

Suddenly, her view of the door was cut off by Ella. “Hey, Chloe,” she said with what appeared to be forced nonchalance. “Can you come to my lab please? There’s something I need your eyes on.”

“Can it wait?” Chloe asked. She really wanted to be there the moment that Lucifer came out, so she could grill him on what nonsense he had said this time.

“It really can’t,” Ella said through her teeth.

Chloe finally looked up at her and noticed that she was looking very suspicious. Given what they had all just gone through together, that was almost as worrying as whatever Lucifer could be saying right now. “Okay, okay. I’ll come.”

Ella quickly led the way to her lab, and Chloe noticed that all the blinds were drawn. Once inside, Ella actually locked the door, before all but dragging Chloe over to her desktop. “Wha-?”

“Joe, who runs the interview system, did me a solid,” Ella explained quickly, pulling up what appeared to be an image of the interview room. “There’s about a five minute delay as it goes through processing, but…”

Chloe realized that the image was actually moving, and was actually of Lucifer, just as Ella turned up the sound.

“-God Given, I’m afraid,” Lucifer was saying, and Chloe assumed he was talking about his name; he’s used that phrase more than once when people questioned it.

“Ella, you are a miracle,” Chloe said, sinking down into the spare chair, her eyes glued to her partner’s image.

“Nah, just taking a page out of a certain friend’s playbook and trading favors.” She joked, pulling up her own chair.

“-Everything I know?” Lucifer’s voice pulled them back to the interview. “I’m quite certain we don’t have time for that. Would you care to be a little more specific?”

The IA interviewer, Jamison, sighed heartily. “Alright, we can do this the hard way. Let’s start with the loft. Tell us what happened there.”

To Chloe’s surprise, Lucifer began recounting their conversation with Pierce word-for-word.

“Does he have an eidetic memory?” Ella whispered.

“I don’t know,” Chloe had to admit. Her mind flashed back to the day that Lucifer had casually reeled off the names and descriptions of almost a hundred sexual partners from his past two weeks, “but it would explain a lot.”

“-I caught the Detective and shielded her from Pierce’s accomplices as they continued to try to kill us,” Lucifer continued on the screen. “Once I had the Detective out of harm’s way, I went back to confront Pierce.”

“On your own?” Jamison asked.

“Well, yes, that was the point of getting the Detective to safety,” Lucifer agreed.

“You went back, _alone_ , to confront a handful of armed men and a crime lord who had already shot a police officer?” Jamison sounded disbelieving. “Do you have a death wish?”

Unfortunately, Lucifer being Lucifer seemed to miss the sarcasm. “Oh, not anymore. My therapist fixed that a while back.” he said cheerfully.

Chloe dropped her head into her hands. This was exactly the kind of thing she had been afraid of him saying.

“When did he have a-”

“I’ll tell you later,” Chloe interrupted Ella. At least, she hoped that Lucifer was referring to that crazy day with the sniper, and not some other death wish.

“Right,” Jamison cleared his throat. “So you returned to the scene…”

“And I knocked out each of Pierce’s miscreants,” Lucifer replied. “Well, all but one. He ran away when I tossed the… fourth? Yes, the fourth, into the column.”

“You defeated four men with guns?”

“Guns aren’t everything,” Lucifer said blithely. “I am very experienced in martial arts.”

“Alright,” Jamison made a note. “Then what?”

“Well Pierce confronted me with another gun,” Lucifer said a little scornfully. “But that did him no good, so he came after me with a knife. He got a lucky shot on my shoulder, we grappled, and he lost.”

“You shoved a five inch blade into his chest!” Jamison pointed out, scandalized.

“Only _after_ he tried to do the same to me,” Lucifer shrugged. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“Right,” Jamison took a sip of water, clearly regrouping after Lucifer’s flippant answers. “And then?”

“Well we had a little chat; I told him he was going to Hell. I mean, if anyone deserved that, it was him. Then the detective returned.”

He did deserve Hell: Chloe remembered Pierce’s cruel laugh that had echoed through the loft. She had heard it as she crept down the stairs and it chilled her enough that she paused before continuing down the final flight. She had finally come down and found Lucifer standing over Pierce, straightening his cuffs as though nothing had happened.

“She called for backup, we waited for the paramedics to clear both of us, and then we each went home,” Lucifer concluded.

“Paramedics?” Jamison repeated.

“For the Detective, mostly,” Lucifer said. “I did mention that Pierce got in a lucky shot on my arm, didn’t I?” He vaguely gestured at his arm. “I got stitches; it should be in the medical report.”

“Right.” Jamison shuffled several papers around the open file in front of him. “Now, tell me about the death of Charlotte Richards.”

Lucifer instantly stiffened. It was subtle, but Chloe had spent several years learning his reactions, and this was not a good one. “What about it?” he asked in a clipped tone.

“Tell us what happened.”

“Well I wasn’t there, was I?” Lucifer all but snarled. “Why don’t _you_ tell me what bloody happened?”

“We found footprints at the scene that were too large for Mrs Richards, tire treads matched a car registered to one Isaiah Amenadiel Cannan-”

“He goes by Amenadiel,” Lucifer corrected.

“Yes, and what is your relationship with Amenadiel?” Jamison asked.

“We’re brothers.” Lucifer didn’t make any of his usual jokes about being the prettier one or something like it; he was still far too tense for Chloe’s comfort.

“That’s unusual,” Jamison murmured.

“Not really: wonderfully progressive times we live in,” Lucifer snarked.

“I see.” Jamison sounded skeptical, and Chloe frowned. Surely he was looking at Lucifer’s file right now. They had made the note a long time ago that Amenadiel was his adopted brother; Chloe had written it herself shortly after Amenadiel had talked to her about it.

“So Amenadiel was up on a deserted plateau with Mrs Richards...” Jamison said, “why do you think they were there?”

Lucifer shrugged. “Our… family… tends to appreciate the freedom of high places. I live in a penthouse. Amenadiel would go up to the foothills and look down over the city. I assume Charlotte joined him.”

“So the fact that that area is a popular lovers’ lane had nothing to do with it?”

“Oh, ew! Ew ew ew no! What is wrong with you people?” Lucifer squirmed in disgust.

“You don’t like the idea of Amenadiel and Mrs R- _Charlotte_ together?” Jamison prodded.

Lucifer gave a fully body shiver. “Not in my worst nightmares.”

“Because you loved her too!” Jamison pressed triumphantly.

“Yes.”

“Because you were her lover!”

“Bloody Hell!” Lucifer surged out of his chair. “You’re sick, you know that?”

“Couldn’t handle her cheating on you?” Jamison taunted.

“Do you not know how to fucking _read_?” Lucifer snarled, looming over the table, and Chloe knew he was seriously upset because he rarely used ‘fucking’ as a curse. _“She was OUR BLOODY MOTHER!”_

“Oh my God,” Ella whispered, as Lucifer began to pace angrily.

Chloe felt like she had been punched in the gut. She’d forgotten, with everything else going on, that Charlotte was Lucifer and Amenadiel’s step-mom. They’d all been so focused on Dan, because he was dating her, or the general loss around the office of ‘one of theirs’, but Lucifer- Lucifer had just lost his _family_.

Part of her wanted to run to the interrogation room, to comfort Lucifer, or maybe to smack Jamison, but Ella grabbed her hand. “It’s on delay, remember?” she said. “This was five minutes ago.”

Well that didn’t make Chloe feel better, but it did lessen her urge to run into the other room. The door opening on the camera short circuited Chloe’s brain for a moment, and she wondered if somehow she _had_ run in there, but it was someone else. Clearly also IA, they whispered in Jamison’s ear and then flipped several pages in Lucifer’s file. As Jamison bent to read the revealed page, and the other officer left, Chloe realized what they were reading.

It was her own note, jotted on the purple legal pad she had grabbed from Ella’s desk when she’d confronted Charlotte over the Ruiz case. She could clearly picture it in her mind’s eye.

 _Charlotte Richards = ex-wife of Lucifer’s dad. Lucifer’s step-mom?_ and then, below it, much smaller, _abused? tortured? cult?_

After confirming it with Lucifer, Chloe had gone back and added a few lines at the bottom, before slipping it into his file. _Lucifer confirms step-mom; he seemed very attached and protective of her. He also confirmed systemic abuse. Watch both her and Lucifer for PTSD or other possible long-term effects._

_Amenadiel too, for that matter._

_Oh, and I know I mostly started it, but STOP teasing him about sleeping with her! -Decker_

Clearly, Jamison hadn’t noticed that page when thumbing through Lucifer’s file, and it seemed that the precinct had never officially updated either his or Charlotte’s next-of-kin listing with the relationship. She knew Lucifer’s listed Amenadiel and Maze, but if it had included Charlotte, it would have been the first thing Jamison saw.

Ella releasing her arm drew Chloe back to the moment, and she refocused on the screen. Jamison had replaced the sheet in Lucifer’s file, and was looking at his own notes, tapping his pen in a sure sign that he was reevaluating his entire interview strategy. Meanwhile, Lucifer had thankfully stopped pacing, and was now simply staring broodingly at the wall.

Finally, Jamison finished regrouping and said quietly. “I apologize, Mister Morningstar. I was unaware of the nature of your relationship with Mrs Ri- with Charlotte.” Chloe nodded approvingly at him avoiding Charlotte’s re-married name.

Lucifer scoffed harshly, but made his way back to his seat.

“So, let’s start again,” Jamison offered. “You think Amenadiel and Charlotte liked to look down on the city?”

“It’s something of a family trait,” Lucifer agreed, as he had mentioned earlier.

With her own note fresh in her mind, Chloe couldn’t help but wonder at what kind of abuse made all three of them scramble to get as high above the city as possible. Maybe some kind of confined, underground bunker? It might also explain the absence of doors and locks in Lucifer’s penthouse.

“If that’s true, and Amenadiel was with Charlotte when… _it_ happened, where is he now?” Jamison asked. “Do you think he was also injured? Maybe abducted?”

Lucifer scoffed, but it was gentle, even fond. “No, I am fairly certain that he _scampered_ back Home with Charlotte’s-” he cut himself off, clearly pained by whatever he had been about to say. “He always has been Daddy’s good little messenger,” he snarked instead.

Chloe had a momentary flash of annoyance that Amenadiel would have raced home to spread the word about Charlotte's death, but couldn't spare a few seconds to call - or god-forbid _text_ \- Lucifer to let him know. He just had to show up at a crime scene completely unprepared to find his mother's body.

“Is there any way that you could call him to confirm?” Jamison asked. “He might have seen something important…”

“Dad isn’t big on new-fangled ideas, so nope! ” Lucifer scoffed, popping the ‘p’. “No phones, no technology. Even if Amenadiel had his cell on him he wouldn’t get reception.” And didn’t that just make Chloe’s ‘cult in a deep underground bunker’ theory a little less far-fetched.

“Could you, or someone else, maybe go there and get him?” Jamison asked carefully.

Something haunted flickered across Lucifer’s face, and for some reason Chloe was reminded of his words at the crime scene last week. _“She's gone somewhere I simply can't follow.”_

“I’ve been banished, I’m afraid.” Lucifer said ruefully. “They’d rather see me burn in Hell than ever darken their doorstep again.” There was that look again, for a bare second, before Lucifer’s cheerful mask descended. “As for anyone else, I’m afraid they’re fairly _exclusive_ up there. Even if you tried, you wouldn’t get in.”

“I see,” Jamison jotted a short note, and Chloe was fairly certain it was just the word ‘cult’ in huge letters. At least, that’s what she would have written in his place. “And there’s no one else whom _you_ could contact who could then contact Amenadiel? Other family? Siblings?”

Lucifer started to shake his head, then paused, consideringly. “It’s a long shot, but…” he looked right at the camera, and not for the first time Chloe wondered if he could somehow see through the mirrored window. “I’m not sure if she’s even able to get my message, or get to Amenadiel if she could… she might actually be mad at him, come to think of it… but I don’t _think_ it would hurt to try Rae.”

Chloe thought she heard Ella gasp beside her, but she was too busy cataloging the way that Lucifer spoke about his family. What kind of relationship did they have if he had to think so hard about contacting one person about a _murder investigation_? What kind of sister would be so upset that she might not even help Lucifer catch her mother’s or step-mother’s killer? Or even just pass on a message between brothers?

Her mind flashed back to early in her partnership with Lucifer, when he’d gotten into that horrific fight with Amenadiel while they were looking for his wings. And that wasn’t the only time, either… she could think of at least three times they had come to blows that left Lucifer black and blue. Amenadiel seemed to have come around since then, but if all of Lucifer’s siblings shared that kind of violent relationship…

She refocused on the screen in time to see Lucifer with his hands clasped together, apparently thinking, suddenly drop the pose and pick up his phone. He quickly sent a text, and Chloe again had to wonder at how strained their relationship was that Lucifer had to think so hard to compose a single text.

“I’m not positive that will work; I made that clear, right?” Lucifer said as he tucked his phone back in his pocket.

“We appreciate you trying,” Jamison said. His tone had completely shifted since the revelation about Charlotte. Frankly, Chloe thought, even if Lucifer hadn’t killed Pierce in such a clear case of self defense, she doubted anyone in this building would blame him for taking down his step-mom’s killer. Chloe remembered his and Maze’s ‘gift’ of her own father’s killer, and their baffled reaction to her arresting him instead of killing him. No, Chloe had no trouble imagining him pushing that knife the full five inches into Pierce. Why, for Lucifer that could even be considered restraint!

“Now, one last thing,” Jamison said, flipping to a new page on his pad.

“Of course,” Lucifer started to rub his face tiredly, then aborted the movement with a slight wince, reminding Chloe of the long gash in his arm. She had watched the paramedics put a dozen stitches into it at the scene, but it was another thing she had conveniently forgotten since that day.

“Detective Espinoza testified that you were aware for some time that Pierce was actually the Sinnerman,” Jamison said.

“Of course he did,” Lucifer sighed.

“When did you find out about this?”

“I started piecing it together during the roller derby case,” Lucifer admitted. “During the Korean Power case, I used our undercover operation to attempt to learn more about him and what he was planning.”

“And why did you not go to Detective Decker with your concerns?” Jamison asked. Which - thank you! - was something Chloe wanted the answer to as well.

Lucifer sounded weary. “I did! I told her that Pierce wasn’t what he seemed, but she brushed me off, as per usual.”

“Why would Decker ignore your concern?”

To Chloe’s shock, Lucifer simply looked at Jamison as though he was insane. “Have you ever _met_ the Detective? I _never_ lie, which I’ve told her repeatedly, but without hard facts and proof from someone _else_ she wouldn’t believe me if I said the sky was blue!”

“I’m not that bad!” Chloe protested, half-rising before Ella tugged her back down.

“Time delay, remember?” she murmured.

Chloe huffed but sat back and re-focused on Lucifer. She had missed Jamison’s response, but Lucifer was wearing his ‘remembering’ face.

“The first night I met the Detective, she was investigating a… a dear friend who had been shot outside of Lux. I told her that I had had an ‘interesting little chat’ with the shooter, ‘just _before_ he kicked off.’ And she came back with a disbelieving ‘So, you had a conversation with a dead guy?’ I had said _before_ he died, but she didn’t believe me.”

“Then I told her what he said, ‘I just pulled the trigger,’ meaning that someone else had hired him. She ignored this information and informed me that because he was a drug dealer and Delilah did drugs, it was ‘not rocket science’ to figure out why he had killed her. Even after chasing down several leads, she still insisted that the drug dealer had killed Delilah for himself; she’d just changed the reason from ‘drug money’ to ‘lover’s spat’. Despite me telling her from the beginning that he was just a paid flunky - which we eventually proved, by the way - she refused to believe me.”

“On our third case together, I told the Detective that Ty Huntly was not the killer. I even attempted to show her evidence on the dead girl - Ali’s - phone that led to the manager. The Detective cut me off repeatedly and told me to leave. The manager turned out to be the killer, by the way.”

“On our fourth case-”

Chloe hit the mute button on the keyboard with a scowl. “He’s also accused a dozen people who ended up being innocent, but sure, cherry pick some of the things he’s said that were right!”

Ella patted her arm comfortingly, then un-muted the computer when it became clear that Jamison was speaking again. “-ve never been wrong? Never had a hunch that was off?”

Lucifer seemed to consider that. “Oh, I’ve had wrong hunches - I’m not omniscient -, but I always specify that it is something I think, or bet on. I’ll say ‘the killer was probably him’ or ‘Don’t you people say it’s always the wife?’ That’s different than saying ‘I found evidence on this phone’ or ‘she told me that she hated dogs.’

“Who could hate dogs?” Ella whispered, sounding heartbroken.

“The kind of woman who would kill her fiance when he chose his dog over her,” Chloe replied, recalling the case Lucifer was referring to.

“And what, exactly, did you tell Detective Decker about Pierce?” Jamison asked.

“ _Because, Detective, I happen to know him better than you, and I know that you can't trust him._ ” Lucifer quoted from memory. “To which, she demanded more explanation, which she - of course - didn’t believe.”

“Right, because immortality is a great explanation,” Chloe grumbled. “Far better than simple jealousy.”

“Dude, you know he filters everything through his Devil metaphor,” Ella said. “Who - or what - was Pierce supposed to be?”

“Cain,” Chloe scoffed.

“Wait, _Cain_? As in the guy who killed his innocent brother in cold blood? As in the first murderer? As in the origin of all evil?” Ella stared at her, wide-eyed. “That’s who he assigned to Pierce?”

Chloe shrugged uncomfortably. “When you put it like that…” When you put it like that, she _knew_ that Lucifer couched everything in his ‘Devil’ metaphor, and within that context, his condemnation of Pierce was pretty damning.

“Oh my God!” Ella gasped. “Didn’t Pierce say that the Sinnerman killed his brother?”

“Yes-”

“And we found out that _he_ actually was the Sinnerman, which means…”

“...He killed his own brother,” Chloe finished.

“Just like Cain and Abel,” Ella whispered.

And yeah, ok, maybe Chloe should have tried to look past the Luciferness and actually pay attention to his warning, but she’d been so convinced that he was just _jealous_ , she’d ignored him. She’d refused to believe in the Sinnerman at first too, and he had been real. Twice over, actually, with both the first version they’d caught and with Pierce. After the crap she’d given Lucifer about the Sinnerman, it wasn’t surprising that he’d given up on trying to convince her about Pierce.

Chloe had spent the last week pissed as Hell at Lucifer because he had almost let her marry Pierce even though he _knew_ what he was capable of. She’d completely ignored the fact that Lucifer _had_ tried to warn her, and she’d blown him off.

Just like she’d forgotten that Charlotte had been Lucifer’s step-mom.

Chloe had been letting her confused feelings for Marcus - _Pierce_ \- blind her to everything Lucifer was feeling. She hadn’t once asked him how he felt about Charlotte, or even spoken to him after he killed Pierce. No, after he’d _saved her life_ and then risked his own to stop Pierce for good. That deserved, at the very least, a check in, but she’d been so wrapped up in her own guilt and convoluted feelings for Pierce…

She owed Lucifer a huge apology.

“Lucifer!” Ella bounced up and pushed past Chloe. Chloe quickly minimized the video feed and turned to see Ella giving Lucifer a crushing hug. Clearly his interview had ended while she had been thinking.

Lucifer had both arms up in what appeared to be a botched attempt to fend Ella off, just as he often did with Trixie. But today, instead of being annoyed that he was treating her child like she had an infectious disease, Chloe wondered what kind of upraising resulted in a man who was so freaked out by a simple hug. Probably the kind of upbringing that went hand in hand with a mother willing to tank a trial just to ensure that her son's partner was good enough for him. Yet another piece in the probable-underground-bunker-cult puzzle.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Lopez?” Lucifer asked. When Ella didn’t release him, he began patting her back awkwardly with his un-injured hand.

Ella’s voice was muffled by Lucifer’s chest, but Chloe still managed to make out her words. “I’m so sorry about your step-mom, Lucifer.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“We were… recently… _reminded_ that Charlotte was your step-mom,” Chloe fumbled to explain, without revealing that they had been spying on his interview. She stepped up and laid one hand on his good arm. “I- I’m sorry, Lucifer. I completely forgot that. I was so… distracted by… well, everything else. I forgot what you were going through.”

“Oh, uh, yes, well-” Lucifer winced as Ella squeezed him tighter.

“We’re here for you, buddy,” she mumbled into his jacket.

“Well, as much as I appreciate that-”

“What the Hell?” Dan’s furious demand cut through the moment.

Chloe turned and found Dan standing in the back door of the lab. “Dan? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe this,” Dan growled. “I come here to talk, and I find you two draped all over him?”

“We’re not ‘draped all over him’” Chloe protested, at the same time that Ella turned her face towards Dan and asked, “So what if we are?”

Dan scoffed angrily. “He’s a bad guy! He killed someone last week, and probably not for the first time! And I am sick of you all giving him a pass!”

Chloe was completely blown away by Dan’s attitude. He’d grumbled similar things in the past week, but Chloe had let it slide because he was grieving. But Lucifer was grieving too, and he wasn’t blaming everyone else, or lashing out. “First of all Dan, Lucifer “killed someone” in self defense. It isn’t like he went out and shot someone in cold blood,” Chloe pointed out. “Second of all, what is this ‘first time’ crap? Lucifer’s not violent.”

“Right! He’s put who knows how many suspects into the psych ward by using _hugs and bunnies_!”

“That’s not the same!” Chloe protested.

“And even if it was, this isn’t the time for that,” Ella said, turning to face Dan with one hand on her hip, the other still firmly wrapped around Lucifer.

“Of course not; it never is!” Dan threw his hands up. “When will be the right time, Chlo? After another innocent person gets caught in the crossfire?”

Chloe didn’t realize her feet were moving until she had crossed the short distance between them and decked Dan. “God, you are such a- a-”

“A douche?” Lucifer offered helpfully when Chloe couldn’t find a word despicable enough.

“He got Charlotte killed!” Dan shouted, picking himself up from the floor. 

“You _dare_ -” Lucifer began, but Chloe held up a hand to silence him.

“ _Pierce_ killed Charlotte,” she said firmly. “Not Lucifer.”

“He might as well have!” Dan growled.

“And that gives you the right to act like a jerk?” Ella asked.

“I LOVED HER!” Dan roared.

“You’re not the only one!” Chloe spat back.

Dan scoffed. “Right, because _you_ were so close to her; you barely tolerated her!”

“She was my mum,” Lucifer said quietly.

Dan scoffed again. “Right, which is why she _never_ talked about you.”

“Dan, she told _me_!” Chloe said, even as she heard a quiet “Harsh” from Ella. “Remember? We even talked about it! I added it to Lucifer’s file!”

“Well congratulations on making it all about _you_ , again, Lucifer,” Dan spat, before stalking out of the lab.

Chloe sighed heavily. She thought Dan had been growing up recently, but he was the same judgemental, gaslighting ass he had always been. Honestly she wasn’t sure why she kept trying to be friends with him. Well, she did; it was for Trixie’s sake, but he was just so toxic!

“I’m sorry about that,” Lucifer said quietly. He then let out a soft “oof” as Ella glomped him again.

“Not your fault, Lucifer,” Chloe said sternly. “Dan’s been out of line; saying snide things like that all week. I let it slide because he was grieving, but what he said to you was completely unacceptable.”

Lucifer didn’t look convinced, and Chloe held up a hand to forestall him saying something stupid and typically Lucifer like how his own feelings didn’t matter or something. “ _I_ was done with his attitude,” she said, placing the emphasis on herself. As expected, Lucifer’s gaze hardened slightly and he nodded. Of course he wouldn’t stand up for himself right now, but he would go along with whatever Chloe said.

“Back to our original topic,” she said, “I know Amenadiel’s out of town, but have you been able to talk to someone about this, Lucifer? Doctor Linda, or…”

“I’m afraid the good Doctor has been a bit busy,” Lucifer said wryly.

“Too busy to even _talk_ to you?” Ella sounded surprised.

Lucifer sighed. “It seems that… Pierce had more than one gambit. The reason we faced so few of his men was that the others had been assigned to… capture and hold Maze. Something about framing me for her murder - or vise versa - I’m not entirely sure.”

“Oh my God,” Ella murmured, and for once Lucifer didn’t complain about the phrase.

“Yes, well, I’m given to understand that Maze took out a dozen of them, and then, having heard something about surveillance on Doctor Linda, raced off to her side. They’re holed up in a safe house until Maze heals and/or the department can confirm that there aren’t anymore goons or corrupt cops still out there to carry out another dastardly plan.”

Chloe grimaced at the reminder of the couple of officers who had already been arrested for being on Pierce’s payroll. “You have told them that Pierce is dead?”

“Yes, yes,” Lucifer assured her. “But he used proxies before - the other Sinnerman, his little accomplice, Maggie, - Pierce easily could have set something in motion before his death that would still have consequences now. Hence, no visits, no calls that can be traced, etcetera.”

“That’s… fair,” Chloe acknowledged. Until IA cleared the rest of their department, and ran down leads on his non-police goons, plus whatever information Chicago was sending them… it could take a little while to be certain that some scheme of Pierce’s wasn’t going to pop back up like the boogie man.

“But that means you’re all alone!” Ella realized.

“That’s hardly unusual.” Lucifer murmured, clearly thinking that sentiment was more reassuring than it was.

“Alright, that’s it; you’re coming home with me tonight,” Chloe declared. As the lecherous grin spread across Lucifer’s face, she gave in to the urge to facepalm. “You can have Maze’s room - I’m assuming she wouldn’t mind, and that _you_ won’t be shocked by anything you might find in there.

Chloe then considered Ella, who was doing a good job of hiding her emotions, but after so many Tribe nights together, Chloe could still get the gist. And really, none of them should probably be alone right now. “Ella, I have it on good authority that our couch is pretty comfy…”

“I’m in!” Ella cheered before she could finish.

“Then it’s settled!” Chloe declared, before Lucifer could object. “When we clock out, you two can swing home to get whatever you need and I’ll get dinner fixings. We’ll reconvene at my place at six sharp! Alright?”

“Alright!” Ella saluted sharply.

Chloe looked at Lucifer, daring him with a raised eyebrow to object. To her satisfaction, the variety of emotions on his face settled in resigned acceptance. “As you wish, Detective.”


End file.
